Walking down several minutes to the south from This Bright Field, you will see Town Hall Hotel, opened sometime in 2010 and housed in a grand Edwardian building in Bethnal Green. Singapore hotelier Loh Lik Peng has transformed this former council hall with Art Deco detailing (history of the building) into this elegant boutique hotel, keeping the old charms but adding modern fixtures. The atrium is classic and impressive, with designed marble floors and marble pillars as well as imposing staircases, and also has some contemporary feel with mid-century style chairs for guests to relax. Inside of the hotel’s public spaces, you can see artworks by East London artists, such as delicate woodcuts, murals in pencil, and a mounted moose head made from Persian carpet.

For people who live in London, including us, may not have a chance to sleep in. However, this hotel houses two popular restaurants which are produced by renowned Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes, michelin-stared Viajante and Corner room, that attract many foodie Londoners.

I can’t write about the rooms as I’ve never slept there, so check the critique’s reviews (Telegraph/Guardian) or Boutique hotel site Mr & Mrs Smith if you want to stay. However, the location is not central or sophisticated at all,there is nothing but V&A Museum of Childhood and some hip neighborhood cafés & restaurants, and I am not sure if I want to recommend this hotel to a foreign guest who comes to London for the first time…

80席を有するCouncil Chamber（区議会室）は、上映設備を備え、レクチャーや劇場などイベント会場として使用される。

Council Chamber contains equipment for film screening and can be used as a lecture or theatre style venue for up to 80 people.

Council Chamberの隣のAnte-Chamber

Ante-Chamber, next to Council Chamber

Cambridge Heath Roadに面した、Viajanteレストランへの入口

Entrance to Viajante on Cambridge Heath Road

ホテルの南側にはモダンな建築と赤い煙突

Modern architecture and industrial chimney on the south side of the hotel

先日、用事があって、初めてHackney Service Centreを訪れた。2010年2月にオープンしたHackney Service Centreは、Borough of Hackney（ハックニー区、ロンドンの特別区の一つ）が住民に行政サービスを行う施設で、Hackney Town Hall（区役所）の近くにある。入口を入ると、広々とした吹き抜けのアトリウムが広がり、レセプションと待ち合いラウンジ、それをずらっと並んだ窓口が取り囲む。待ち疲れた時や問題が片付かなくてイライラした時のため（？）に、カフェもある。設計を担当したHopkins Architectによると、この建物はCO2排出量を10%削減、そして利用エネルギーの10％は再生可能資源によるもので、環境にも配慮されている。

We went to the Hackney Service Centre, opened in February 2010, for the first time the other day. The Hackney Service Centre is built to accommodate the Borough of Hackney‘s administrative staff and to make a place of contact for borough residents. The vast atrium houses the Council’s public reception with a waiting area, surrounded by numbers of service counters. There is also a cafe, in case you are exhausted from waiting or frustrated with your problem. According to the Hopkins Architect who was in charge of planning, this environmentally friendly building demonstrates 10% reduction in carbon emissions and 10% of energy generation from renewable sources.

Now I understand where our council tax money goes – we pay quite a lot every year with very little sense of benefit!

Hackney Town Hall Square has been developed as a new ‘creative quarter’, surrounding by a new Library (photo above), Technology and Learning Centre, Hackney Museum and the refurbished Hackney Empire, built in 1901 as a music hall.

There are Graffitis here and there in our neighborhood in Hackney, East London, where many artists live. One of the famous one is “Hoodie” (photo above) by famous British graffiti artistBanksy who uses stencils to create his works. You can find it under the bridge over the Regent’s Canal, on the North of the Shepherdess Walk. Another one of Banksy’s work nearby is “Pledge Your Allegiance / Very Little Helps” on the wall of a pharmacy on Essex Road, with two children pledging allegiance to supermarket giant Tesco (the title is a parody of Tesco’s slogan, “Every Little Helps”). “Old Skool“, worth £300,000, drawn on the wall of a motorcycle shop in Clerkenwell, where M bought his Vespa, was sold it to an anonymous German buyer for only £1,000. When we talked about it with the owner of the shop, he smiled and said “I am glad someone took the painting anyway, and he paid a lots of money for its removal, so it’s fine.” He was not greedy at all! The German hired Wall Paintings Workshop and it took 6 weeks for them to remove the painting.

The second closest from us is on the wall of former-Rentokil building, painted by American artist David Choe (photo above. Other works in the same place 1/2). I passed by when he was working on it but I didn’t have my camera that day, but I was lucky today that the gate was open (usually locked) and had my camera with me. He took 2 days to finish the work, according to his blog. Before Choe’s work, there was a painting of 2 rat-face men in black (police?) uniform – I couldn’t find who did it. I prefer the previous work – I should have taken a photo of it.

To be honest, I don’t like graffiti much in general. It tends to be too busy and too much colors, and more or less it looks all the same (especially the writing). It looks too rough and edgy, and is for teenagers to me. However, I kind of like Stencils, such as the works of French Blek the rat, the godfather of stencil graffiti art, and Banksy, though I don’t like his tendency to be too political. I also like Belgian artist Roa‘s ‘Squirrel’ (photo below), at the corner of Redchurch street and Club Row, near Pizza East and Albion. Roa seems to like to paint animals, but some of them look a bit scary, like the two pigs on top of each other on the same Redchurch street.

Some say graffiti is an art, but if it is done without permission, obviously it is illegal. Borough Councils accept a report of illegal graffiti from public. Once reported, all reports of graffiti will be investigated within 48 hours, and offensive graffiti on buildings owned and run by the Council will be removed within 24 hours of a report being received, and non-offensive graffiti will be removed within 14 days (Borough of Hackney‘s case). Even some of Banksy’s works were erased or painted over due to its illegality – maybe the Councils should sell the graffitis, with removal on buyer’s expense, and get extra money to use for the community’s sake.